Doppelgangers
by celeryy
Summary: Ted plus Internet. Marshall plus conspiracy theories. Robin is relieved that it's not another cat video. Oneshot.


**A/N**

**I wrote this...almost a year ago, I think. Dialogue is fun! :)  
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**Characters belong to CBS.**

**As ever, please R&R!  
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/

"Woah."

Ted did a double take. He stared at the computer screen, dumbfounded.

This was too weird. Uncanny, even. There had to be some explanation.

"Hey Robin!" he called over his shoulder, "Come over here!" He waited. Nothing.

"Robin. ROBIN!"

Ted's roommate was doing her best to ignore him. The couch was so comfortable...

"Ted, I don't want to see another piano-playing cat."

"Oh, I think you DEFINITELY want to see this," Ted said. "No - Robin - I'm serious."

Robin rolled her eyes dubiously, but got up anyways.

"Okay, Mosby - but only because you asked sooo nicely," she quipped dryly. "And this had better be good. I'm giving up the squishy spot on the sofa for you."

"You won't regret it, Sherbatsky."

As she walked over to stand behind Ted, he suddenly turned around in his chair, blocking the screen from view.

"Okay, before you look, I must give you a dire warning."

The anticipation in his voice was almost comical. Robin raised an eyebrow.

"This video I'm about to show you will probably change your life. It may, in fact, have altered the destiny of the world as we know it, or perhaps have shattered the space-time continuum entirely. The profundity of this simple video could turn our fragile concept of reality on its head and send the universe spiraling -

"You have two seconds."

"Aaaand here it is!" He moved aside hastily to reveal the computer monitor. Robin leaned closer to get a better look at the image on the screen, and there, staring back out at them, was the spitting image of...

"Barney?"

"BEHOLD!" Ted declared dramatically. "Barney has a _second_ doppelgänger!" He sat back in his chair. "Let the Laws of Physics come crashing down around our ears." He turned to Robin to see her reaction. She was still gaping at the blonde-haired blue-eyed figure whom anyone could have mistaken for their eccentric, womanizing pal...wearing a white lab coat, and what seemed to be heavy welding goggles. "That...is..."

"I know, right?"

"...really freaky."

"I KNOW, right?"

"I mean...That's REALLY freaky."

It was all there; the defined cheekbones, the impish smirk, the quirked eyebrow...

Robin glanced at the caption above the image:

**Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog**

"Evil Scientist Barney?"

"Robin - SINGING Evil Scientist Barney!" Ted laughed in disbelief. "I never thought I'd say this, but Singing Evil Scientist Barney beats the crap out of Mexican Robot-Wrestler Ted. How unfair is that?"

"Has Marshall seen this? He'll freak!" Robin said.

"Hold on; I'll give him a call..."

/~~~~~~~~~~~~/

"Dude..."

"I KNOW, right?" Robin and Ted responded simultaneously.

"I can't even..."

Several hours later, Ted, Robin, Marshall, and Lily were all gathered around Ted's computer, watching Doctor Horrible sing to his webcam about freeze rays and Wonderflonium.

"Okay, is this not the best thing you've ever seen?" Ted asked, clicking the Replay button for the fifth time.

"No, dude, you don't understand..."

The gang turned to look at Marshall. He had that stubborn glint in his eye that always forebode one of his supernatural conspiracy theories.

"That's not a doppelganger..." he said ominously. "That IS Barney."

The doubtful looks on his friends' faces failed to phase his resolve.

"I mean, think about it -" he appealed. "All of our doppelgängers look MOSTLY like us, but this guy is, like, EXACTLY the same. And...we already know that Barney is totally evil enough to be a supervillain...AND none of us actually knows what his real job is..." He looked pointedly at each of them. "Does anyone present really want to pretend that GNB couldn't be a cover name for the Evil League of Evil?"

Ted frowned thoughtfully.

"You know...I suppose we really couldn't put this past him..."

/~~~~~~~~~~~~/

And for the rest of the week, Barney was baffled as to why everyone kept shooting him suspicious glances and randomly mentioning a girl named "Penny."

/

**A/N**

**Heh. I realized, as I was re-reading this, that my description of NPH includes the phrase "defined cheekbones". Sound like anyone else I'm currently obsessing over? Maybe I just like that physical trait...Or maybe there's a direct correlation between cheekbone definition and acting talent...**

**hmm...*muses***


End file.
